Translation from English

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Not far from the ritzy St. Bartholomew's on Park Avenue is St. Peter's on Lexington and 53rd Street.

It is built next to a busy subway station where two lines connect ( lower level shown here and also a nearby entrance that shows the lines there).

St. Peter's has always been known for being socially very progressive and for its famous Jazz programs. In fact, this church seems to be wild about jazz...you can check out its website and learn more about it.

This was always traditionally THE Episcopalian high society church in Manhattan, at least in Midtown ( I remember now the Rockefellers built the Riverside Church on the Upper West Side later)...

Remember this church primarily for its old reputation for snootiness and also its attempt to sell its air rights for a skyscraper ( which I believe was never approved).

To quote Wikipedia again:

The current church was erected in 1916–17. The original freely handled and simplified Byzantine design by Bertram Goodhue was called "a jewel in a monumental setting" by Christine Smith in 1988. [6] Goodhue modified his design in response to the requirement that the old church portal, beloved by the parishioners, be preserved, with its bronze doors, from the Madison Avenue building and re-erected on the new site.

The foundation stone of Goodhue's original design, a vast, unified barrel-vaulted[7] space, without side aisles or chapels and with severely reduced transepts, was laid 1 May 1917[8] and the construction was sufficiently far along for the church to be consecrated in 1918; its design was altered during construction, after Goodhue's sudden, unexpected death in 1924, by his office associates, in partnership as Mayers, Murray and Philips; they were engaged in erecting the community house, continuing with the same materials, subtly variegated salmon and cream-colored bricks and creamy Indiana limestone; they designed the terrace that still provides the equivalent of a small square, surrounded by the cliff-like facades of Midtown commercial structures (illustration, upper right); in summer, supplied with umbrellas and tables, it becomes the outside dining area for the restaurant, Inside Park. They also inserted the "much discussed"[9] dome, tile-patterned on the exterior and with a polychrome Hispano-Moresque interior dome, which substituted for the spire that had been planned but never built.[10] Completed in 1930, the church contains stained-glass windows and mosaics by Hildreth Meiere, and a marble baptismal font by the Danish follower of Canova, Bertel Thorvaldsen. St. Bartholomew's, completed by 1930 at a cost of $5,400,000,[11] is one of the city's landmarks. For long one of New York's wealthiest parishes, St. Bart's is known for a wide range of programs. It draws parishioners from all areas of New York City and surroundings.

In some ways I kind of like the geometric simplicity and sort of modesty of this one, and another part of my brain says " that is exactly the kind of modern art that either turns people off or makes them say " ANYONE could design that."

In fact, I am sure there are a lot design students who could knock out something like this as a project...

When the Seagram Building was built, it stood out as a "modern" building. However, older buildings around it were demolished and newer buildings in a similar style were built all around it, so it just blends in now.

The Brasserie in the Seagram Building used to be THE restaurant to go to for late night dining back in the 70's...

It was the only legal restaurantof an upscale kind in all of Midtown Manhattan. The City that never sleeps of course has always had off hours clubs whose status is questionable etc.

I remember being there about 1975 late at night with some people and just having a glass of wine and some French onion soup, with bread of course. It was all very civilized and full of a lot of middle aged ladies of all things.

Between 1991-98, the building deteriorated badly. It lost, for instance, most of its initial green glass panels. Unilever had only the top four floors of the building and moved its offices to Greenwich, CT.

In 1998 a German company bought the property and did an extensive restoration of it.

Parking a car in Manhattan is, as most people know, a really burdensome or expensive chore.

I have known people who let thousands of dollars of parking fines build up unpaid because they knew they would be moving out of state in a few years...(think the City tried to do something about this at one time but I don't know what happened).

At one time there was also a lot of vandalism of cars parked on the street and a surge of theft of higher priced cars from richer neighborhoods.

People said the Mafia controlled car thief gangs stole cars to order, and loved certain types of Mercedes autos, for instance.

Manhattan and to some extent the other boroughs are one of the few areas in the country where you can get by without owning a car.

I visited a small town in Massachusetts back in about 1977 (took the bus up) and a ten year old girl of the extended family I was visiting asked me where my car was.

I told her I didn't have one and she was dumbfounded. In fact, it IS so strange compared to the rest of America.

Of course, high gas prices get to me eventually in inflationary terms even though I am not out watching the spiral upward at gas pumps.

Like I lot of people , I have more or less forgotten about the Ford Foundation...

It used to get a lot of press and I remember it was involved in Public Television and the development of such shows as "Sesame Street," but I have no clear idea what it does, these days.

Now dwarfed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, apparently it is no longer connected to the Ford family and has been roundly criticized both on the left and on the right for a lot of its actions.

The Wikipedia article I consulted was sort of muddled I thought. This is from a later part of it:

In 2005, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox began a probe of the foundation. Though the Ford Foundation is headquartered in New York City, it is chartered in Michigan, giving the state some jurisdiction, although many foundations are chartered in states different from where they are headquartered. Cox focused on its governance, potential conflicts of interest among board members, and what he viewed as its poor record of giving to charities in Michigan considering its origins. Between 1998 and 2002, the Ford Foundation gave Michigan charities about $2.5 million per year, far less than many other charities its size. The foundation countered that an extensive review and report by the Gaither Study Committee in 1949 had recommended that the foundation broaden its scope beyond Michigan to national and international grant-making. The report was fully endorsed by Ford's board, and the trustees subsequently voted to move the foundation to New York in 1953.[16] Cox hoped that his probe would prod the foundation into giving more to Michigan charities, and indeed it was met with some success.[17][18]

The foundation’s partnership with the New Israel Fund, which began in 2003, was frequently criticised regarding its choice of mostly liberal grantees and causes. This criticism came to light after the 2001 Durban Conference, where some NGOs funded by the foundation backed resolutions equating Israeli policies as apartheid, and later, against those groups which support the delegitimization of Israel. In response, the foundation adopted stricter criteria for funding.[20]

Incidentally, this building got an award for architecture and supposedly for its horticultural Atrium that is open to the public....I saw no sign of that at all and the building is just sort of tucked away on a block not far from the United Nations. It seems sort of eerily quiet in the middle of the day.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Top of tower of old Grand Central Terminal Tower (later renamed the Helmsley Building, now under different ownership I understand)--surrounded by more modern architecture, it peeks into view like the top of some European landmark.

Kudirat Abiola was a Nigerian Muslim woman, born in 1951, who with her husband was very active in that country's pro-democracy movement.

Her story is one of intense involvement and struggle..

A biography of her on the internet concludes:

"On June 4th 1996, a few days to the anniversary of the June 12 commemorative date when Nigerians resolved to vote out the military dictatorship, Kudirat’s life on earth ended, extinguished by assassins’ bullets. Her spirit lives on in the name and work of KIND."

Places that are open are packed with people. Don't forget, NY is a tourist town now on the scale of Paris ( maybe a little more tourist friendly than Paris, I don't know...different people have different experiences.)

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Going way back before the Revolutionary War, a rich Quaker merchant became sort of a gentleman farmer in what would become lower Midtown...

There was a steep, rocky outcropping that over many years was cut down and dug through so the hill in Murray Hill is not so big today.

The Murrays had a rich history..some sided with the British in the Revolution, others--including the redoubtable matriarch-- supposedly invited the British General Howe over for tea and distracted him for several hours, allowing Israel Putnam and George Washington to run and escape capture with all their troops...

After 1820 or so, the city grid street plan was imposed and all the area began to be divided into lots.

According to Wikipedia:

In mid-19th century the rich, temporarily, and the upper middle class more permanently filled the brownstone row houses that filled Murray Hill's streets, the Brick Presbyterian Church followed its congregation; selling its site facing City Hall Park, it rebuilt in 1857 closer to its congregation, on the smoothed brow of Murray Hill, at Fifth Avenue and 37th Street.[14] But when J. P. Morgan built his conservative brownstone free-standing mansion in 1882 on Madison Avenue at 36th Street, which is today a part of The Morgan Library & Museum, it was considered a fashionable but slightly old-fashioned address,[15] as the rich were filling Fifth Avenue with palaces as far as Central Park. Instead stylish merchandising was changing the neighborhood; Madison Square Park, at this time considered a part of Murray Hill, was bordered by the fashionable ladies' shops of the day on Fifth Avenue.

Today's borders are officially from 34th to 42nd Street and from Third to Park Avenues...

What used to be called "Curry Hill" south of 34th Street because of its Asian Indian population now often claims to be part of Murray Hill...

Some very scenic remnants of the past still exist, such as Sniffen Court --once stables, now a courtyard of expensive townhouses-- on 36th Street.

And of course, eventually a lot of apartment buildings were built in the area...I have found two that both call themselves "The Murray Hill."

Haier America purchased the Greenwich Savings Bank building in 2000 as its corporate headquarters.[5] In 2002, Haier rechristened it Gotham Hall and has since rented it out as an event facility for wedding ceremonies and receptions, corporate events, private parties and functions, conventions, conferences, etc. The old banking room is now Gotham Hall's Grand Ballroom, the board room is the Oak Room, and the executive office is the Green Room.[6]

Thought this building partially obscured by scaffolding was another boutique or antique store kind of place...

Not at all, it is a "drop in shelter" for homeless people that offers limited services,called "Mainchance."

With the recession going on and on, the homeless population of course has increased but a lot of these people head South or West now looking for a softer climate ( climate not so soft in the South these days....).

About Me

New Trier High School, Winnetka Illinois.... cancer survivor...NYU Grad School of Film and TV...Film Editor....Training Audio/Visual Writer for US Coast Guard...audio visual producer and public relations writer..had some pretty awful bumps along the way (haven't we all) --glad to still be around and in touch with so many friends from the past